


6. Mortification is a good look on you, darling

by cocoa_the_maniac, ladyofpride



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-17 23:29:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5889295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cocoa_the_maniac/pseuds/cocoa_the_maniac, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyofpride/pseuds/ladyofpride
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Possibly the only thing worse than fantasizing about having a sexual relationship with a man of questionable morals is <em>legitimately</em> contemplating having a sexual relationship with a man of questionable morals.</p><p>It also doesn't help when your best friend is rooting for said man, but such is the way of life...</p>
            </blockquote>





	6. Mortification is a good look on you, darling

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is the sixth installation of the "Len & Barry Ship It" group project, which was just oodles of fun. Thank you, everyone, for letting me join you on this wild ride!
> 
>  **Disclaimer 1** : Although I've written the sixth component for this little group activity, I take no credit whatsoever for the overall plot of this story. In fact, even this portion was the brainchild of the other authors. Please make sure you read their stuff and give them lots of love!!! Those brilliant beauties deserve it! ;D
> 
>  **Disclaimer 2** : The first two paragraphs preceeding the "XXXXX" were actually written by the lovely [Crimson1](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Crimson1/pseuds/Crimson1). Thank you, darling, for organizing this little activity.

It was entirely an accident on Len’s part—well, a calculated allowance of breaking the rules, to be honest, because he was aware of what he was doing. After all, it wasn’t as if the Scarlet Speedster was pouring over ColdFlash fanfiction and fanart the way Len was on a regular basis. And it was such an adorable detail to include, a hilarious memory for Len, even if only he, Flash, Cisco, and that woman who had been in attendance had been present to witness it. He couldn’t resist included it in his most recent fanfic.

No one would ever know.

XXXXX

When Barry saw it, he just about lost his mind.

There was definitely a horrible moment of dissociation, where a cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck and his fingers went a little numb, and his vision got a little foggy around the edges as he suddenly forgot to breathe, because, oh _fuck_ , how could he have been so _blind_ …

To any outside observer, Top’s most recent fic was just another sweet hunk of witty banter and mind-blowing smut. Not entirely plotless, mind you, because they built it up with this comical scene where ‘Ryder’ was momentarily powerless and freaking out just a little, exactly as Barry did on occasion, especially when a metahuman was about to go to town on him. So his character grabbed one of those hand held vacuum cleaners and tried to pass it off as a genuine weapon, which got Barry laughing a little at first, until he read the whole story over again at a more relaxing pace and realized that _that_ particular scene was not _purely_ a work of fiction.

“…Oh shit,” he muttered, remembering all too well that one time Cisco saved him from getting frosted over by decking an old vacuum cleaner out with LED lights and pretending it was the Cold Gun 1.0. _Nobody_ knew what had gone down between Snart and Barry that fateful night except for Felicity and the other members of his team. Well—and Len himself, of course, but there’s no way in hell…he wouldn’t…

Barry pushed his chair back from his desk abruptly and wobbled to his feet. He needed—oh _god_ —he didn’t know what he needed. To confirm it wasn’t Len, probably? But that left just Cisco and Caitlin, whom he highly doubted blabbered to anyone outside of Team Flash. Or, of course…well, _maybe_ …

Barry winced, because he was perched precariously at the point of no return here. Either Felicity was into him _way_ more than he felt comfortable letting Oliver ever know, or Leonard Snart was riding the exact same train toward fantasy and desire that he was. And honestly, neither one of those two scenarios really appealed to him at the moment, because in one case he’d probably have to deal with the wrath of Oliver, and in the other he would be forced to face the carnal yearnings of a world class criminal and long standing rival.

This… this _couldn’t_ be happening to him.

But it was, and the tension building in every muscle in his body was getting to be a little too much to bear, so he slipped into his tripolymer suit and took a quick run across Central City in the hopes of alleviating some of that pressure. He wound up preventing a fatal four car collision and stopped a robbery in progress at the First National Bank while he was at it, and slowly he began to feel a little better again, because losing himself to that stream of pure energy had always been a sure-fire way of shifting his focus away from the more traumatic aspects of his life—and _then_ he finally felt calm enough to sit back down in front of the computer in his bedroom, pick up his cell phone, and text Felicity: _Do you have a minute_?

He needed more than just ‘a minute’ actually, but he had no idea how to start this loaded conversation, and it was as good an opener as any he was ever going to come up with, considering his current state of mind.

Not two seconds later, he got a reply:

 **Felicity** : _For you, always! What’s up?_

Barry bit down hard on his lower lip, fingers flying over his phone as he typed in his next message: _I’m trying to retrace my steps from an earlier mission and I was wondering if you could help me._

 **Felicity:** _Absolutely! Having trouble hacking into the security feed somewhere? Just give me the time and place._

Barry took a deep breath: _Actually, it was one of the missions you were here for…Do you happen to remember the first time I ever encountered Captain Cold?_

He was expecting a split-second response, but it took Felicity a full thirty seconds to type:

 **Felicity:** …

 **Felicity:** …

 **Felicity:** …

Immediately, Barry felt as though the bottom had fallen out of his world. Obviously, she knew something was up— _or_ , maybe Felicity told someone she shouldn’t have. Maybe she betrayed him—not _intentionally_ , of course, because she would never willingly put him in harm’s way. Or...

Or maybe he was just overreacting and she wa simply combing through old CCTV footage from the night in question?

 **Felicity:** _I **knew** it._

Barry swallowed hard, because, oh _crap_ , what was it she knew?

He didn’t have much time to wonder because almost immediately his phone started ringing. Sure enough, Felicity’s smiling face and number popped up on his screen, judging him from 600 miles away in Starling City.

Barry cursed under his breath, then tried to compose himself as he hit ‘ _answer_ ’ and pressed the phone against his ear. “Uh, Felicity, _hi_! Look, if you’re busy right now—”

_“Barry Allen—Shut. Up. I’m about to ask you a very important question and if you try to lie to me I **will** find out.”_

He swallowed hard again. “Are…are you mad at me?”

_“Hell no, but I’ve had this little theory rolling around inside my brain for god knows how many weeks already, and I **didn’t** want to look too deeply into it because I try **really** hard not to spy on my friends and, and— **did you** or **did you not** write ‘Human for a Day’?”_

Barry quite literally choked on the little bit of phlegm hanging at the back of his throat, because there was no way in _hell_ she would know about that fic unless she had a good look at it herself. “Y-you _read_ _it_?!”

_“A-ha! So you **did**.”_

“ _No_ , actually,” he replied, mortified. “But, I mean…you read stories about Cold and I doing things in…you know, _the bedroom_?”

 _“Well, yes, but…”_ She paused a moment here to clear her throat, obviously trying to figure out a way around his accusation, “ _You know, I only did it for stalker-ish purposes—to **monitor** potential stalkers, I mean, because who knows what weird stuff people convince themselves to do after vocalizing the darkest fantasies of their minds?”_

“‘Human for a Day’ was not a dark fantasy,” he argued. “I lost my powers for an hour while fighting a metahuman and then ran into Leonard Snart five minutes later.”

_“…who then exploited your powerless state to trip you into bed. **Clearly** the author needs to add ‘dubious consent’ to the tag list before I write them a scathing review.”_

“What are you talking about?” he muttered. “That sex was consensual from beginning to end. I tied his hands to the headboard and then rode him so hard he saw stars. I was in _complete_ control of the situation, and that’s the point he was trying to make—that my powers aren’t necessarily what make me ‘powerful’.”

_“I know, I’m just baiting you.”_

Barry winced, because, _good lord_ , here he was, arguing over _fictional_ sex.

Fictional sex with his arch nemesis.

 _Mind blowing_ fictional sex with his arch nemesis…

_“Look, **please** don’t die from embarrassment, Barry. I just wanted to know how active of a member you were of the ColdFlash fandom. Given your expert analysis though, I’m going to hazard a guess and say you’re **quite** the regular…”_

“Felicity…”

_“Relax, I won’t tell anyone if you don’t, because, honestly, I don’t know how Oliver would handle the fact that I’m reading porn about you, regardless of my motives. Let’s just figure out who our mystery author is and then call it a night, okay?”_

“I think I can pretty much guess who it is.”

_“My bet is on the ol’ Captain too. Just give me ten minutes to pop off and assist Oliver with something and then I’ll call you back immediately with an answer.”_

“Uh, thank you, Felicity.”

_“No problem, Barry.”_

He waited until he heard the little _ping_ as she hung up, then just sat there, staring at his computer screen in absolute silence.

He was slowly starting to break out in a cold sweat again, heart hammering against his chest. As it stood, he had absolutely no doubt in his mind that the mysterious author was Len, because the level of intimacy that he expressed between their characters, that ability to balance their most extreme traits both in the bedroom and on the battlefield, smacked of the highly observant and strategic mind of one Leonard Snart. And really, that’s what got Barry sucked into the fandom in the first place, that glorious moment when he thought he’d found someone who understood _who_ he was despite the constant secrecy he had to uphold in the public’s eye. It felt like something special to be known and worshipped by some stranger who could put into words the thoughts and feelings he had trouble harmonizing in his own mind. It made him feel like something _more_ than just a ‘hero’.

Now though…

Now he didn’t know.

There was a part of him that was terrified by the obvious level of obsession Len had with him—almost _embarrassed_ by the fact that Len had probably pictured him naked under his suit at one time or another, thinking about all the things he’d like to do to Barry once he got his hands on him. However, there was another part of him that wished Len would’ve reached out to him already, to make those fantasies a reality. He loved their witty banter almost as much as he would’ve loved to submit himself to Len’s whims, to just lay himself bare and let Len crawl over him, to close his eyes and spread his knees a little to accommodate—

Mortified, Barry realized he was suddenly rock hard.

Just then, his phone started ringing again.

It took Barry a moment to regain his composure, but eventually he mustered the courage to hit _‘answer’_. Tentatively then, he asked, “Felicity?”

_“…All I’m going to say is that **if** his dick is half the size he says it is, you need to hop on that bad boy before he finds himself infatuated with somebody else.”_

Groaning, Barry immediately hit _‘end call’_ before she could share any more pearls of wisdom.

The last thing he needed was for her to find out he agreed…

 


End file.
